Tech support to the Twilight Zone

[naggy.livejournal.com]

Not only were we not on the same page...I don't think we were on the same planet.

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Me: If you search on this person by Social Security Number (SSN). you'll find that there is another person with the same SSN. That's why you're being told there is a duplicate.
User: OK, I'll get the worker to change it.

Next day (in a series of e-mails):

Worker to User: Just wanted to let you know that I let the case run overnight in hopes of the duplicate person in CCI getting resolved. I still have the duplicate person screen popping up when I try to send the investigation for approval after letting it run overnight. (Notice, the worker didn't say she made a change.)
User to Me: Now what?
Me: Well, when I search by SSN, I still get the same match. You'll need to have the worker actually change the SSN.
User: I do not get the match when I search by either first or last name.

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The sad part: this user is supposed to train and support other users on this program.

Comments

[jungessio.livejournal.com]

The other sad part is that Social Security Numbers are no longer unique to individuals so some people might actually have the same SSN.

[loosechanj.livejournal.com]

Did this actually happen twice, or is there an echo in here?

[naggy.livejournal.com]

Don't know where you heard that, but SSN's not only are unique, but they are also not currently reassigned after you die. There are almost 10 billion possible numbers (since certain number combinations are not used), and nowhere near 10 billion people in the US.

[jungessio.livejournal.com]

That's a nice idea, now let me tell you how it really works...

Many people assume that Social Security Numbers are unique. They were intended by the Social Security Administration to be unique, but the SSA didn't take sufficient precautions to ensure that it would be so. They have several times given a previously issued number to someone with the same name and birth date as the original recipient, thinking it was the same person asking again. There are a few numbers that were used by thousands of people because they were on sample cards shipped in wallets by their manufacturers.

The passage of the Immigration reform law in 1986 caused an increase in the duplicate use of SSNs. Since the SSN is now required for employment, illegal immigrants must find a valid name/SSN pair in order to fool the INS and IRS long enough to collect a paycheck. Using the SSN when you can't cross-check your database with the SSA means you can count on getting some false numbers mixed in with the good ones.

Also, you stated that there are nowhere near 10 billion people in the United States... That is correct, currently there are approximately 300 million people living in the United States today. What about the people who where living since the SSA started assigning numbers? Remember, the SSA does not assign the number of someone who has died to someone else. It's very likly that they have run out of numbers and are now reassigning old numbers. Obvioulsy they will need to change their numbers realitivly soon since the United States population is expected to reach 523 million in 2300 and most people don't live to be 294+ years old.

[naggy.livejournal.com]

Check the SSA website: they've issued a little over 400 million numbers. That leaves only about 9.5 billion numbers left, which means they're at 5% use. I think we're safe for a bit, and then they'll just add a digit or go to alphanumeric numbers, assuming some other number code hasn't come up by then.

SSN's are not required for employment; there are other methods one can use to gain legal employment, such as a visa or green card. Additionally, many types of work are cash-on-hand types of jobs. It's extremely easy to hire illegal immigrants, you simply pay cash.

SSN duplicates are usually caused by someone submitting an app twice in a short span of time, or submitting different information. With numbers being assigned centrally from Baltimore, this doesn't happen quite as often as it used to.

BTW: I'm not just speaking out of a trust of the USG; my mother worked for the SSA for over 20 years, and thus I've picked up more than a passing familiarity for how it works.

[jungessio.livejournal.com]

The SSA website is horribly out of date then... This would mean that since 1935 the total number of people who ever lived in the United States is a little over 400 million. If everyone alive today was 65 or older, then I could buy that only 100 million people have died since 1935...

You're right, SSNs are not required by every single job, however, most jobs do require that you have a valid SSN. I just illustrated that in the past it was the caused by people who were falsifying their SSN number to get a job.

It is also true that SSN duplicates are usually caused by someone submitting an application twice, but they can also happen by the other ways I've described.

BTW: My family realitive worked on designing automobiles, therefore, I must know almost as much about it as he/she does because obviously I have followed him/her around all the time and learned everything they know about it, even the trade secrets. :") (This may be more useful if you personally were working for the SSA... but I gather that you're not.)

[naggy.livejournal.com]

Nah. I've done short-term work for them directly, and I've worked indirectly with them for my current project, which required me to research how SSN's were distributed. My first resource was my mother, everything else came out of my correspondence with SSA.

Also, about the # of SSN's: Not everyone received an SSN immediately when the agency was formed. Children often didn't get a number until they started working. Current census counts also are supposed to count illegal immegrants, who aren't supposed to have SSN's. I'd say the number is low, but even if there is 100 million more numbers, you're not greatly impacting the percentage of numbers used.